Prologue: ~(1)~

"Her house sinks down to death, and her courseleads to the shades. All who go to her cannotreturn and find again the paths of life."(Proverbs 2:18-19)

The s ickle moon hung in the sky overManhattan, as Margaret Sizemore, 35, lookedout of her apartment window and thought abouther daughter, Melissa, who was in the nextroom sleeping. Margaret, an attorney, was asingle mother taking an extended leave from herlaw firm to give her infant daughter somequality time before she hired a nanny to takeover the responsibilities. She knew she wouldhave been much better off had she married, butMargaret was an independent woman, strongand resourceful, and she refused to give up thatindependence for the convenience of a partner. She was able to conceive through artificialinsemination, and this was good enough for herneeds. The sperm had come from a donatingdoctor with a high IQ and excellent geneticlines. A cold chill suddenly filled the room, andMargaret began to feel a strange emotion takehold of her consciousness. She walked over toher computer nook near the window, picked upa blue marking pen, and began to disrobe. When she was entirely naked, she began todraw strange, wavy patterns all over her armsand legs until she looked like an African bride. Then, as if she were part of some secretceremony, she slowly marched into the backroom where her daughter was. Inside her bassinet, Melissa was on her back,staring up at the mobile of Teddy Bears thatdangled in a circular motion overhead. However, there was something strange abouther appearance. She was a pale gray, and herblue eyes were fixed in a death gaze. Margarettook a deep breath, said something thatsounded like an incantation, and placed her twoindex fingers over her daughter’s eyelids andclosed them down over the blue, staring orbs.

She then said, “Now you can join my LittleFaces.” Margaret Sizemore then turned and left theroom, still showing no outward emotion, andwalked back into the main room of herapartment. Careful ly , as i f she wereapproaching the door to another dimension, theyoung lawyer opened the window thatoverlooked the sidewalk six stories below. Shethen climbed up onto the ledge of the windowand jumped, never once making a sound, andplunged down into what she thought at thatmoment was eternal damnation.

Chapter 1~(2)~

He first met Milo Hirsch at the only playgoundthey had in Palm Beach in April of 1968, PeanutIsland. Mack McKenzie was a thirteen-year-oldeighth-grader at the Maritime Academy, aprivate secondary school for sons and daughtersof the hired help in Palm Beach, located out onDixie Highway, and Milo was being home-schooled. All the kids who went to “MerryTime” were given a permanent pass to PeanutIsland, which was the only cool thing about thisschool. Palm Beach Florida consists of the “haves” andthe “have nots.” When you’re a kid, all youreally care about is how you appear to the otherkids and not how much money you have. Ofcourse, that all changes later in life, but for abrief span of time, all you care about is havingfun and finding fun things to do with yourfriends.

Milo was part of the “haves,” although Mackcertainly didn’t know that the first night theymet. Mack was, most certainly, one of the “havenots.” Mack’s mother, Gladys McKenzie, wasthe head housekeeper for Mr. Charles Munn, Jr.,“Mr. Palm Beach.” He and his mother livedright next-door to the Kennedy Compound, at1093 N. Ocean Drive, in a mansion called“Amado.” Mr. Munn was an eccentric man, married tosugar heiress Dorothy Spreckles-Munn, and heowned the patent to the pari-mutuel bettingmachine and held the patent on the mechanicalrabbit used in greyhound dog racing. Mack andhis mother took care of Mr. Munn’s home,Amado, in Palm Beach, even when the Munnslived in Paris, their second home. They saw atroupe of many social dignitaries visit us,including Amorys, Pulitzers, Boardmans,Armours, Vanderbilts, Wannamakers, Biddles,Drexels, Spreckels, van Rensselaers and, ofcourse, the Joseph P. Kennedy family. In April of 1968, the Kennedys were all in anuproar about their own Bobby, who had decidedto run for President in March. As everyoneknew, they had lost their eldest sons, Joe Jr. tothe war and John Fitzgerald to an assassin’sbullet in 1963. Mack knew from the Munns thatthe Kennedy family was not enamored of Bobbyputting his life on the line, and the island wasablaze with rumors about when the nextAmerican psycho would take him out. The most captivating guest staying at Amadothe first time Mack met Milo Hirsch wasPrincess Lilith Lane-von Hohenlohe of Marbella,Spain, who was known as “Lily” when she posedin Playboy in 1966 and who did a movie withElvis Presley, Tickle Me, in 1965. Lily may have

been a Spanish princess in title, but to Mack, athirteen-year-old boy, she was the womanposing nude in the pictures he kept under hisbed. Mack shared this fact, and others, with his newfriend, Milo, when he met him on the southernshore of Peanut Island. Milo visited the islandonly at night. He wore a long trench coat(before the wearing of them was fashionable,except in 1940s spy movies) and darksunglasses, and Milo always looked down whenhe spoke, shading his face with his arm. It wasalready dark, so Mack thought it was reallystrange to see this kid trying to hide, and hetold him so. “Hey, dork. What’s with thePhantom of the Opera act? Is your facedeformed or something?” Boy, he really said the wrong thing. Milo beganto sob, uncontrollably, and Mack truly believedhe had ridiculed some kind of elephant boy, orsomeone equally hideous, and he felt instantlysorry. “Listen. My name’s Mack McKenzie. Ididn’t mean anything, honestly. I thought youwere just acting weird or something, you know? No shit. I was just kidding.” Finally, Milo stopped crying. He also began tofeel his nose as if he believed it was going toescape him. “Does my nose look big to you?” heasked, turning profile. “I think it’s ghastly! That’s why I come out only at night. If peoplewere to see me, they would scream and runfrom me in horror!” Mack squinted at him in the darkness. Milo’snose looked pretty normal to him. Perhaps itwas a bit pointed on the end, but other thanthat, no big thing. “You’re not deformed, kid. Hey, you want to play a neat game?”

“What? What game can you play on thismilitary base?” Milo asked, looking around atthe U. S. Coast Guard building, the MaritimeMuseum, and the J.F.K. Nuclear Bomb Shelter,built during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. “No, listen. I have a pass to get into themuseum and all these buildings. It’ll be cool. They only have stupid sailors on watch. Theyjust play cards all night. They don’t give a shitas long as we don’t tear anything up.” Milo again felt his nose. “Will they ask usquestions or inspect us?” “Hell no, man! We play here all the time. They’ll just laugh and wave us through.” “What games do you play?” “I like to play different ones. But my favorite is‘end of the world.’ See, we pretend we’re thePresident and the Vice President of the UnitedStates, and we’ve just been attacked by theRussians. We go inside the bomb shelter andmake believe we’re deciding on whether or notto order a counter-attack. It’ll be cool. It canbe like in Dr. Strangelove. We can think upsome crazy shit. Besides, look, I have somemagic mushrooms.” That’s when he showed Milo the driedpsilocybin buttons. “Aren’t those heavy drugs?” Milo asked, hisvoice trembling. “No way. I got them from the actress, LilithLane. She left them out after they had a bigparty at our place. I heard them talking abouthow it felt when they took them. They saw starsand colorful lights, and they had deep, insightful

discussions about the meaning of existence. Then, they all went out into the ocean and swamnaked under the stars. You should have seenthat Lily! She has a body that won’t quit! Haveyou ever seen her in Playboy? I have the issue. I’ll show it to you sometime. If you’re a goodboy.” Milo and Mack ate two buttons each that night. They didn’t feel anything for about a half-hour,not until they had entered the Kennedy bombshelter. This facility was constructed to be anEmergency Command Center in case theRussians launched nuclear missiles at us fromCuba. From the outside, it looked like theentrance to some kind of decompressionchamber or even a submarine plugged into theside of the hill. The staff at the KennedyCompound used to joke that they should use itas a drunk tank for all the guests who came tothe parties thrown at the mansion. They entered the shelter at a ninety-degreeangle. A sailor in a white dress uniform wassitting behind the desk at the entrance foyer. He smiled and waved at the pass in Mack’shand. “Go on in boys,” the sailor said, smiling. The circular descent was like the twirling black-and-white cone at the beginning of TwilightZone. Metal rebar was wound tightly aroundthe conical-shaped passageway as it led theboys down into the main Command in Control(CIC) room. The passageway was supposed towithstand the shock of a nuclear blast, but itprobably would not have withstood theconcussion at all if a missile hit within a mile orso of the shelter. They used to make Mack do“duck and cover” drills at the MaritimeAcademy, but now he knew it would have beenmuch more appropriate for them to have done“kiss your ass goodbye” drills.

Inside the confines of the shelter, they began tofeel the first physical manifestations of thedrug. Mack began seeing pinpoints of lightsprout out around objects, like the Americanflag in the corner of the room or Milo’s head. He also began to feel like discussing moreimportant things than some kids’ game. Theentire place began to take on an importantsignificance, like Milo and he were meant to bethere to figure out a complicated mystery ofsome sort. “Do you feel the way I do?” he asked Milo,waving his hand in front of his eyes. Lightbegan trailing after Mack’s hand as if he wereinfused with some hidden energy. Milo was busy feeling his nose. “Hey, I can’tfeel my nose! You know what it is? I havenever realized this, but now it’s clear to me. Ibelieve my nose is ugly because it is special. Can you smell what I smell?” “Smell? No, but I can certainly see everythinghas electric energy,” Mack said. “I can smell how the world’s going to end,” Milosaid, and Mack began to laugh. “Yeah, uhuh. You mean, like in Hamlet? Something’s rotten in the state of Denmark!” “No, that’s not it. It’s the odor of death. Massive piles of corpses, piled as high as theeye can see. But, that’s not it either. It’s like Ihave telescopic smell. I can smell each one ofthe coming odors of destruction. And they’reset out before me like dominoes.” Milo satdown in one of the chairs and leaned forward. His eyes were riveted on the end of his nose andwere crossed.

Mack remembered reading something aboutYogis who were able to go into trances and seethe future. Could Milo truly be some kind ofweird kid prophet? “Hey, Milo. What do yousmell, man? Clue me in.” “It’s crazy. I’ve never been able to leave myroom without feeling panic. I thought I wouldhave to exist at night for the rest of my life,living in the shadows, fearing everyone andeverything I meet. But now . . . it’s amazing . . .I want to track down these odors and explainhow the world will end!” With that statement,Milo stood up and began to leave the bombshelter. All Mack could do was follow him. Above earth once more, Mack followed Milo intotown. They walked over to The Breakers Hotelover on South County Road. This was a hotelwhere Mr. Munn and his friends always stayedand where they had their big parties. It wasbuilt in 1893 by William Flagler, a railroad andreal estate tycoon. On 40 acres of prime, ocean-front property, its Georgian-style edifice had1,100 guest rooms and over three miles ofhallways inside. Bellhops used roller skates todeliver messages to all the rich guests whostayed there. Mack followed Milo and his nose up to the sixthfloor. They got off the elevator and walkeddown the hall to Room 666. This was reallygetting weird. Milo stood in front of the doorand sniffed. “It’s in here,” he said, and heknocked on the rosewood door. The door opened slowly, and they could smellthe poignant odor of incense coming from withinthe room’s confines. A tall old man in a turbanwas standing there, as if he were expectingthem. “Entrez,” he said, and he gestured at the

boys with a hand that had long, blackf ingernai ls . His eyes were dark andmesmerizing, and he had a ruby on a chain thatwas affixed on his turban and dangled on hisforehead. “You’re in luck! I was just going tocontact the djinni. You are here about the endof the world, are you not?” he said, matter-of-factly, as if he were going to loan them a cup ofsugar. “Is this all caused by the shrooms?” Mackasked, feeling quite stupid as he entered theroom. “Nah, the psychedelics just opened my sensorydoors. I was always meant to find out,” saidMilo, as he walked confidently after the Sultaninto the back room. Inside the bedroom, it was as dark as the BlackHole of Calcutta. Mack was just gettingaccustomed to the dimness when a flameerupted in the middle of the room. It was asmokeless, orange-red fire and the points of theflames licked at the ceiling, as this blaze wasover six feet tall. “ S H E W I L L B R I N G D I S E A S E A N DPESTULANCE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD! THE DARK AGES HAVE BEGUN!” The volume of the voice from out of the flamesjust about broke their eardrums. “THE WORLD WILL END IN DISEASE ANDFAMINE! SHE WILL BRING IT JUST AS SHEDID IN EDEN. PROTECT YOUR CHILDRENWITH THE AMULET. ENSCRIBE UPON IT THENAMES OF THE THREE ANGELS: SENOY,SANSENOY, AND SEMANGELOF.”

* * *

That was all they learned on the first night. Asit turned out, Milo was a Jew, and he knew allabout what the djenni had said out of the flamesin the bedroom. His father was a lawyer, andhis mother was a housewife and Orthodox Jewfrom Russia. It was she who told him the legendof Lilith. According to the ancient Hebrewmidrash known as the Genesis Rabba and theAlphabet of Ben-Sira, Lilith was Adam’s firstwife in the Garden of Eden. Milo’s mother readhim the passage one night when his father wasat work: After God created Adam, who was alone, Hesaid, 'It is not good for man to be alone.' Hethen created a woman for Adam, from the earth,as He had created Adam himself, and called herLilith. Adam and Lilith immediately began tofight. She said, 'he will not lie below,' and hesaid, 'he will not lie beneath you, but only ontop. For you are fit only to be in the bottomposition, while I am to be the superior one.'Lilith responded, 'We are equal to each otherinasmuch as we were both created from theearth.' But they would not listen to one another.When Lilith saw this, she pronounced theIneffable Name and flew away into the air. Adam stood in prayer before his Creator:'Sovereign of the universe!' he said, 'the womanyou gave me has run away.' At once, the HolyOne, blessed be He, sent these three angelsSenoy, Sansenoy, and Semangelof, to bring herback. Said the Holy One to Adam, 'If she agrees tocome back, what is made is good. If not, shemust permit one hundred children to die everyday.' The angels left God and pursued Lilith,whom they overtook in the midst of the sea, inthe mighty waters wherein the Egyptians weredestined to drown. They told her God's word,

but she did not wish to return. The angels said,'We shall drown you in the sea.’ 'Leave me!' she said. 'I was created only tocause sickness to infants. If the infant is male, Ihave dominion over him for eight days after hisbirth, and if female, for twenty days.’ When theangels heard Lilith's words, they insisted she goback. But she swore to them by the name of theliving and eternal God: 'Whenever I see you oryour names or your forms in an amulet, I willhave no power over that infant.' She also agreedto have one hundred of her children die everyday. Accordingly, every day one hundred demonsperish, and for the same reason, we write theangels' names on the amulets of young children.When Lilith sees their names, she remembersher oath, and the child recovers. “Don’t you see what this means?” asked Milo, asthe boys sat inside the Peanut Island BombShelter the next night. “No, I don’t. What are you telling me?” Macksaid. “That woman who’s staying with you. Hername’s Lilith, right?” “Princess Lane? You don’t mean she’s . . . Ican’t believe it! She’s a really groovy chick. She can’t be the same one that’s in yourscriptures.” “Listen. This is my purpose in life now. I musttell the world about the amulets, and I mustconfront this Lilith before she spreads herdisease.” Milo stood up, and his youthful, darkface held the firm resolve of a hero. “Will youcome with me?” he asked.

“Sure, Milo, I was there when all that freakystuff happened at The Breakers, wasn’t I? Howdo I know you didn’t set me up? This could allbe some kind of weird joke by a crazy psycho.” “I know you’re skeptical, Mack, and I don’tblame you. You’ll just have to trust me. You seethis?” Milo pulled out some kind of medallionon a gold chain around his neck. “Yeah,” Mack said, stepping closer to get abetter look at it. “It has the names of the three angels on it. Mymother put it on me before I was circumcised. Iwas saved to do something, and I believe thiswas it. We have to get the word out to others sochildren can be saved. And, if your Lilith Laneis from Adam’s first wife, then she will berepelled by my little amulet. Let’s go see,” Milosaid, and they left to visit Amado. Mack’s mother was supervising dinnerpreparation. He introduced Milo to her, and shetold them that Princess Lane was in townshopping. “I don’t want you boys bothering ourguests,” she said, and they told her theywouldn’t. “When do you expect her back?” Mack asked,showing her his best innocent expression. “She said she’d be back before dinner,” Mrs.McKenzie said, hurrying off to see that therooms were ready for the evening guests, whowould begin arriving shortly. After the boys were out of earshot of the staff,Milo asked, “Where can we hide in the diningroom?”

Mack pointed to the closet beside the antiqueGrandfather clock. “In there. Nobody goes init.” As they both listened in the darkness, they couldhear the conversations of the guests thatevening. They were especially interested inwhat Princess Lilith had to say. The followingexchange had them listening with devoutattention: “Princess, why doesn’t your husband ever cometo America? We have yet to meet him. Isn’t heafraid of leaving such a beautiful wife all alonein the midst of mil l ionaires and otherrapscallions?” Laughter could be heard all around the table. “Oh, my husband and I have a specialarrangement. I don’t meddle in his royalbusiness, and he doesn’t bother in mine. Ifyou’ll excuse me, I want to take a swim beforethe sun goes down. I just adore the weatherhere, don’t you? It makes my body tingle allover with invigoration. Health is the best giftwe have in this life, don’t you all agree?” “Yes,” came the collective retort, and the boyscould hear Lilith get up from her place at thetable, walk past them, and go up the stairs. After a few moments, the dinner party wasadjourned, and the two boys crept out of thecloset as quietly as satyrs on the forest green. They knew if they wanted to meet with PrincessLane they would have to hurry. They ranupstairs, where Mack quickly showed Milo thePlayboy photo of Lilith Lane posing with thegiant python wrapped around her nude body,got into their swimming trunks, and ran out intothe evening’s glow toward the beach.

Unbeknownst to Milo, Mack also took two moreof the Magic Mushrooms he had left over.

* * * Under the radiant and waning moon’s yellowishand increasingly dynamic glow, the boys sawher standing at the edge of the tide, watchingthe waves crash into shore. Mack stared, inabject fear, as Milo walked up to her, casually,as if he were meeting a close friend instead of amortal enemy. She was wearing nothing at all,and she was the only figure on this privatestretch of beach. The soft voluptuousness of herbrown body sent shivers of lust through Mack,as he was beginning to feel the effects of thedrug. “Lilith? I have something for you,” said Milo,and she turned around slowly to face him. Herface was coquettish and her lips formed aplayful smile. She was actually a head tallerthan the short Jew, and she had to look down athim as he waved the amulet in front of her eyes,from around his neck, like a priest at anexorcism. His pasty-white body contrastedsharply with her nude brown one. “Ah, yes, I’ve been waiting for you,” said Lilith,much to Mack’s surprise. “Do you actuallybelieve you can challenge my power in this life,my little Jewish toady?” “So, you admit you are the wicked female ofdeath and seduction,” Milo responded, clutchingthe amulet more tightly between his fingers. “The little token has protected you from me thistime, but how will you be protected when mypower is unleashed in the future? Isn’t this thereason you have come? Are you not worriedabout the end of this world?”

“I will do my best to protect my human family. Yes, and I am curious. How will you end it?” Mack was also interested, and he moved closerto hear them better. “The diseases we will bring will defy science. My microbes will become immune to yourtechnology. They will mutate and becomeinvulnerable to all innoculation or antibiotics. The newborn will become increasingly subjectto autism, and you will blame it on the pollutionin the environment, just as you once gave mymurdering of your infants that quaint littlename. What was it you called it?” “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome?” said Mack,and it was as if it wasn’t his voice at all sayingthe words. “Yes! You believed that simply putting yourlittle ones on their stomachs or on their backscould prevent me from doing my job! Yourscientif ic logic amuses me immenselysometimes.” “But how will it all end?” Milo asked again, hisvoice losing its earlier confident tone. “It will just be the perfect storm, that’s all. Greed will overtake the planet, and you willseek shelter in sin, just as you always have. This is my domain. Sensuous enjoyment! Entertainment of the flesh! It will all open thedoor for us to enter. My daughters, mysuccubae, will swoop down on the unsuspectiinghoards of fornicating idol-worshippers, and theend will come in a few weeks.” With this pronouncement, Lilith began to danceon the beach, screeching at the moon, twirlingher sensuous body in widening circles, until theboys became dizzy just watching her. Then, she

was gone, disappeared gone! Was this the workof a sorceress, or was it the psilocybin? Whatever the case, Milo began to run down thebeach, and Mack ran after him, as they bothhowled in terror at the sickle moon.

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